


Sweet, Imperfect, Bonds

by Deep_yet_Shallow



Category: Cucumber Quest
Genre: Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, i love this fandom, nightmare knight actually acts a lot like a dad when you think about it, why is every character adorable?!!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-20 01:58:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12422682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deep_yet_Shallow/pseuds/Deep_yet_Shallow
Summary: The Nightmare Knight was born of fear, feeds off of fear, and has lived in fear since the second cycle.turns out that helps one understand the fears of others.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so I recently began reading cucumber quest, and now I forever love it

He could still remember the first moment he entered dream side, the moment he saw the world. His first thought was that it was too bright, and so he blocked the sun with clouds.

That was the first time he felt their fear, felt it grow into him, making him stronger.

He decided that he liked that feeling.

He had been so foolish then, wanting nothing more than to grow stronger for all eternity _(why didn't he feel the cold loneliness or the warmth that grows in his chest when he bakes the first time?what changed?)_

Having finished the new batch of cupcakes, the nightmare knight set them into the fridge. He wasn't going to let himself reminiscence _(it always led to regret)_ , so he decided to check on the other residents of this castle.

Carefully folding the apron, he placed it in one of the cupboards _(there were cooks and servants in the morning, and **he wasn't going to let anyone touch his apron** )_ deconstructed his form, and reformed it in the princess's room.

Princess Parfait was the embodiment of grace and beauty, much like his Rosemaster _(why did it take five whole cycles for him to recognize how proud of her he was? he too much of a coward to tell her that she never let him down, that it was his own selfish desires that kept them in this eternal cycle of suffering)_.

She always wore a smile on her face whenever he would come to see her, to hide how worried she was for her people _(and her knight)_.But fear wasn't something that anyone could hide from him, and every time he saw her, he would see her fears _(the moment her knight would be brought to her, in the form of a statue, the day that her friend would decide to throw away his sympathy and destroy this world.)_

But tonight, she slept peacefully, with a smile on her lips _(he always wondered how she could stay happy as a captive, how she could look into the eyes of her enemy and call him a friend)_ with no trace of fear or worry.

Whispering a quiet goodnight, he turned to smoke and left through the door _(he didn't notice the princess opening her eyes as he left, and grinning even wider)._

Entering the living room, he found what he expected to see, Cordelia, with her little witch, cuddled on her lap, both fast asleep.She had wanted to make up for going to bed early last night, so she had asked him to bake as many cookies as he could in an hour, and then she and peridot performed "bonding-time" _(it cheered up peridot, so that's what matters in the end)_ which ended with watching a marathon of punisher pumice _(Honestly, those two eat too much sugar, but he wasn't willing to stop baking to nudge them onto a healthier diet)._

Slowly levitating their bodies _(if he touched them they might wake up)_ , he entered Cordelia's room _(it was the closer of the two)._

Like his sweet friend, Cordelia wasn't having nightmares tonight, which was a relief. Her nightmares consisted of her, defeated by the hero, helpless to do anything as peridot was punished for helping her, sometimes when they got really bad, execution would be the punishment. _(fearing harm befalling those who would follow you to your demise was something he was too familiar with)._

He often envied her, because at any moment she could just merely give up, escape and take peridot with her. Peridot wouldn't die if she stopped playing the role of the evil queen _(So why was she playing that role? What reason could she possibly have in order to take over this planet?)._

Sometimes, if he uses his eyes to try and see beyond her, he would see feelings of resentment, bitterness, and regret, along with a desire for something _(but all he could read was fears, nightmares/dreams, and feelings, not minds and memories)._

Tucking her in as gently as he could, he carefully looked into her head and saw fear and concern still plaguing her head since the last nightmare, so he devoured it.

It tasted warm, like all fear derived from caring about someone else. _(He didn't spend a whole five minutes making sure that she was comfortable, nor did he feel warmth flutter in his chest when he realized she was smiling in her sleep. That was something parents( **maybe?)** do, not monsters who feed on fear.)_

Lastly but not least, he entered peridots room, only to find the pillows torn, with a mess of feathers everywhere. _**how could a pillow fight(whatever that was)cause this much mess????**_ Sighing, he levitated every feather back into its pillow, then forced the atoms of the threads back together.

Finally, with a properly tidy bed, he tucked the young witch into it. Peridots nightmares were the easiest to see. They always involved her making a mistake, or marrying the hero's sister, followed by Cordelia appearing and claiming to be disappointed in her, or claiming to hate her in the worst of them. _(perhaps knowing that they weren't possible was what made them so easy to observe.)_

Unlike the other two, however, Peridot had nightmares often, and tonight was no exception. She was already tossing and turning, and soon she would wake up screaming, then avoid sleep for the rest of the night, unless he did something.

Tonight had been a peaceful night, and that peace left his chest feeling warm and fuzzy, so he figured he could share the feeling.

Shrinking himself, he placed his finger on her forehead, and let the all that warmth spread from his chest to her mind.Soon, she stopped moving, and her facial expression relaxed. As he looked into her head, he saw the wedding dream, only now, Cordelia was her bridesmaid, cheering her on from the side.

Deciding that he has had enough, turned to mist, and flew back into the kitchen, as he would need something large like a cake to get Cordelia and peridot over the fact that he was going to forbid anymore "pillow fights".

_(He tried to ignore the warm fuzzy feeling that entered his chest when peridot had smiled, but he was never good against emotions anyway.)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The nightmare knight spends time with peridot.

The first time peridot had a nightmare, he hadn't said a thing about it, probably due to the fact that she had found him baking at the time(granted, he hadn't talked about it later, but how do you approach a subject like someone's insecurities without the person trusting you?).They had just watched Punisher Pumice for around half an hour before she started yawning and he sent her to bed.

The second time, however, was a bit different.

He had been reading on how to make a pie (it certainly seemed a tad more complex than cookies), and stirring the batter, when he saw the door open.

Peridot, in those star-covered pajamas of hers, flew in, her eyes slightly puffy and red(had she been crying?).Looking into her head, he saw nightmares of the little swordfighter, fighting her, with a look of pure hatred in her eyes( it was the look of someone who had everything that matters taken away from them, a few heroes had that look in previous cycles.).

She was awkwardly rubbing her arm, wondering what to say(he wondered why she hadn't gone to Cordelia), but before she could speak a word, he asked the obvious question.  
**"Cookies?"**

She nodded and grabbed one from the counter, and as she took the first bite, a bright smile replaced her frown.  
"Woah, are these chocolate chip cookies? how did you get them to look pink on the outside?"

Ignoring question for now(He couldn't honestly remember how he had done it, which was a shame because he'd love to repeat it), he pulled out a batch of cupcakes from the fridge and placed them on a plate.  
**"Why aren't you asleep, peridot?"**

It hurt slightly to see that smile fade so quickly, but it was probably for the best that he confront this as soon as possible(and besides, peridot tended to ask a lot of questions while he was baking).she quickly changed her expression of sadness to one of disinterest as she crossed her arms.  
"I-I Just didn't feel like sleeping, so I decided not to."(she wasn't looking him in the eye)

Nightmare Knight sighed, before responding.  
**"And I suppose you also just came here to ask if I was interested in watching Punisher pumice with you?"** (if he confronted her about it now, she'd just deny it and possibly avoid talking to him for a while)

That seemed like the right thing to say because soon her face lit up with a mischevious smirk.  
"Weeeellllll, If you give me those cupcakes, then I guess I could make room for you."

(Noisemaster used to act like that, always acting like he got everything under control even when asking for huge favours until Mutemaster began requesting favours in his place)

He managed to hold back a laugh, before handing her the plate and responding with the most sarcastic voice he could manage.  
**"Demanding desserts from a being incapable of eating.How utterly dastardly."**

"Well, unlike some people, we _real_ villains don't bake sweets in pink aprons, but just bribe and force others into giving us desserts"  
And she followed her retort with a classical stick-your-tongue-out (a typical peridot response).

* * *

  
Since he had the show remove him from its plot, drastic changes were made.The plot went from melanite attempting to resurrect the nightmare night to him activating Galatiqueen's Doom-Drill in order to steal the Dreamsides core and magma, Freezing Dreamside to unlivable conditions.

_Pumice and Panacea watched in horror as the Mothership of Frost and its thousand battleships began to surround the earth._

_Melanite merely grinned as every inch of the sky was filled with battleships of frost._  
_"You are too late, Punishers!! Soon the Doom-Drill will reach the core of Dreamside, and everything will freeze to death." The lord of Frost cackled, as the platform, he stood on began to float towards the mothership._

"This is even better than the old episodes!"Peridot said as she packed another cookie into her mouth(when did he bring a plate of cookies with him?)

 _The scene changes to a dark room within as a hole appears within the floor, only for Melanite to rise from the platform into the room through it._  
_"Empress_ _Osidian, I have arrived!"_  
_From the shadows of the room, a pair of red glowing eyes open, glancing at Melanite, before answering with a raspy voice._  
_"Melanite, my greatest achievement! How has-" the empress burst to a fit of coughing._  
_Melanite, his eyes wide open, began to move closer towards his empress, his voice laced with concern._  
_"Are you alright s-"_  
_'I AM FINE!!" the empresses voice roared across the room, sounding younger for a moment, before sounding tired._  
_"What is the reason you've called the entire empire to this planet, Melanite?"_  
_Melanite eyes softened, before smiling a smile full of excitement and exclaiming with his loudest voice;_  
_"My dear empress, I've found a planet capable of sustaining our race!"_  
_The empress's eyes widened, before daring to ask with a hopeful tone;_  
_"Are you sure that it can sustain the empire?"_  
_Melanite, realizing how childish he sounded, cleared his throat, with a slight blush. Walking towards the throne, he took one of the empress's hands and held onto it with both of his, before giving it a reassuring squeeze._  
_"I've truly found us a new Homeworld, mother."_  
_The screen fades to black._  
"What! You can't end it like this! This leaves more questions than answers!" Peridot was practically screeching as she tugged on her ears. (Noisemaster used to tug on his hood whenever something would frustrate him until Mutemaster would tackle him and force him to a cuddle session on the floor)  
While the Nightmare Knight found Peridot's love of this show questionable, as far as he was concerned, everything within this episode had been an Improvement to the normal.

 **"What was confusing about it? everything seemed clear to me."**  
Peridot seemed startled when he spoke as if she had forgotten that he was here (which would imply that she had been talking to herself, something that he would be willing to believe) before she regained her composure and responded (practically screaming).

"Well, yes, but it still raised a lot of questions! Just who is this empress Osidion? If Melanite wants to invade Dreamside, why activate the Doom-Drill? How did Melanite find the Doom-drill, when the last time it was seen, it-" she went on like that for a bit, asking a dozen questions about every character seen in the episode.he tuned most of it out, but she really asked too many questions (she and Splashmaster could learn a few things from each other).  
Once he tuned in again, the first he realized was Peridot, asleep, cuddled on his lap. He would have just taken her to her bed, but he might have woken her up if he had moved, so he just stayed still (he was lucky that he didn't need sleep himself).

  
At some point, she began to stir, and the familiar scent of fear filled the air. Looking into her dreams, he saw her fighting that that little sword warrior again, but now that she was having the nightmare, more details were clear.

  
She turned the sword fighter's father into stone, but this time, instead of merely turning into a statue, it also shattered into pieces. The Hero's sister responded to that by attempting to strike her down, while Peridot did nothing but stutter apologies until the little sword fighter would strike her sword through-  
(He couldn't even stand violence in dreams? that wasn't a thing before.)  
There wasn't much the Nightmare Knight could do to active dreams, but active nightmares were something he could control slightly.  
Many cycles ago, he decided to have "Besty" invade the dreams of Dreamsiders, and generate fear in a way that would harm no-one (he was still foolish enough to believe that there was hope for him), But while Thebestmaster could see the worst fears of people, he couldn't figure what they actually mean, and was more likely to cause screams of laughter than of fear.  
While it had been a huge disappointment, there was a lesson he had learned from the experience: fear can be misinterpreted.  
Grasping hold of Peridot's nightmare(it had now shifted to Cordelia's face, furious that she had ruined Rosemaster's plan) and twisted it.  
(Her nightmares all stemmed from a fear of judgment, so naturally, what could be more terrifying than filling a survey?)  
As he changed her Nightmare, it became a memory of her time in Thebestmaster's lair(a happy memory) and it became blurry until he couldn't even see it(that meant that no part of her dream was a nightmare anymore).

 

Content that she was fine, the nightmare night decided to pass time by falling asleep(he didn't need it, but that didn't mean he couldn't).

  
When Cordelia saw them in the morning, she simply took a photo (Princess Parfait agreed with her that it was adorable, much to the embarrassment of the nightmare Knight and Peridot).

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave feedback.


End file.
